Page 33 of Obey

The moment we were through the door, Devil twirled me around, moving so quickly that I didn’t have time to resist. He grabbed me by the throat, snarled at me, and threw me onto the bed, his expression caught between lust and hatred. I hit the mattress so hard it knocked the breath out of my lungs and I froze up, caught between the need to breathe and the need to get the hell off the bed. Before I could move, he was on top of me, a grimace on his face and his eyes flashing with lust and hatred.

“Thought you’d get away from me, didn’t you, girl?” he hissed. “Thought you’d make a life without me? Forgetting everything I’d done for you, all the ways I’ve marked you as mine?” He yanked a knife out of his belt—one I hadn’t even known he had—and held it to my neck, the point digging in.

I yelped and jerked, terrified that he was going to kill me right then and there. Had he known I was going to try to escape? Was he going to slit my throat right here in retaliation? Or was he talking about how I’d escaped him before?

Were we actually talking about that now instead of pretending it hadn’t happened?

My brain swam with confusion and lack of oxygen and I stuttered, trying to get my lungs to take in the air I needed. I finally got a gasp in, and the renewed oxygen reminded me what I was supposed to be doing here.

I was supposed to be acting like I fucking loved this. Getting him to drop his guard long enough for me to escape. Yeah, I’d hoped to escape before he got me into bed, but the whole idea was to roll with the punches. Not sit here gasping like a fish out of water, who was about to die.

“Yes,” I moaned, rocking my hips up into him and pretending I was getting off on the presence of the knife at my throat. “Devil,” I gasped, for good measure.

His face turned immediately softer and he slipped the knife down my neck, dragging the tip along my skin and leaving goosebumps in its wake. When he got to my shoulder, he slipped the blade under the strap of the top I’d been wearing—the one Sioux loaned me—and jerked, cutting the strap. He leaned close to me, his breath smelling of wine and garlic, and dragged his tongue down my cheek. I gasped again, doing everything I could not to cringe at having him so close to me, and felt the knife’s point dragging down my chest, now.

Toward my heart.

I held my breath, still not sure whether Devil had fallen for my act or not, and breathed out only when he used the knife’s tip to pull the fabric of the ruined top down, exposing one breast. He chuckled and I felt a quick sting as he scratched me with the blade. My skin burned and then cooled as blood welled up from the wound.

“Are you ready?” he whispered against my ear.

Ready? I was ready to get the hell out of here. Ready to see him bleeding on the ground. Ready to get back to Knight, who would never, ever have cut me like this.

But he wasn’t interested in any of that, and honestly, he didn’t need to know about any of it.

“Are you?” I whispered back.

I pushed up into him, using the movement to hide my motions as I slid my hand behind my back to where the switchblade was still resting in the waistband of my jeans. I tickled my fingers over the handle of the blade, waiting, waiting for the right moment. This had to be perfect. I had to pick the moment when he’d be at his most vulnerable, or I’d end up paying for this move with my life.

Wait, I told myself firmly. Wait...

When he turned his head to kiss the skin beneath my ear, I knew the moment had come. I yanked the knife out of the small of my back, hit the switch to expose the blade, and brought it down into the bend between his neck and his shoulder. Jerked it out and slammed it in again. And then again.

He screamed and flailed, throwing himself away from me, and I yanked the blade out one more time, then slammed it into his side, luckily getting it in between his ribs. The blade wasn’t long enough to do as much damage as I needed it to, but it was going to give me a bit of time. Blood was spurting out of his neck now and if I was insanely lucky, I’d nicked something vital in his side. He was screaming like a stuck pig, acting like I had actually killed him, and I hoped that was true.

I shoved him the rest of the way off me and jumped off the bed, grabbing one of his sweaters on the way to the window. It was open, just like Sioux promised it would be, and I dove out and hit the ground in a roll, too wound up with adrenaline to feel the pain of the fall. Lost the sweater in the fall, but didn’t go back for it. Instead, I was up and running the moment my feet hit the ground, leaving Devil screaming behind me as I ran for the bike I prayed was waiting for me.

CHAPTER 15

KNIGHT

I WAS SITTING BY THE window, staring out into the night and wondering where Saraya was and what she was doing. Wondering how her plan was going, and if she was succeeding at whatever she’d decided to try.

Damn, I hoped so. I’d been on edge all night at the knowledge that she was going to try to get away tonight, my instincts on high. Would I know if she’d escaped? Would I get a sudden feeling that she was safe and ready for me to go get her?

Would I know if she failed, and Devil killed her?

I hated not knowing. I’d spent the last five years being in charge of everyone and knowing everything that was going on, and now, when the most important person in my life was in trouble, I didn’t know jack shit.

It was killing me.

Suddenly the door opened and Frank came rushing in, his eyes wide and his skin flushed. “It’s happening,” he muttered.

I was on my feet before he finished speaking, my mind moving faster than it ever had before. This was what we’d been waiting for. Everyone was marshaled and waiting to move out. We’d just had to hold until Frank got word that Saraya and Sioux had made their move. If they had started their plan, it meant we were free to go.

“How far along are they?” I snapped, moving past him. “Are we cleared to go?”

I wanted to move. I’d been wanting to move for hours now, though part of me had known that the later this whole thing happened, the better it would be for everyone. I didn’t like the waiting, but the darkest part of night would provide us all with the best cover, and we were going to need it if we were going to get into Devil’s camp, get Saraya and Sioux, and get back out again without anyone ending up dead.